Saudi Gazette report
HANGZHOU — Saudi Arabia’s Abdulmalik Al-Murdhi has won the bronze medal in the jiu-jitsu 62-kilogram weight in the first day of the jiu-jitsu competition on Wednesday at the 19th Asian Games being held in Hangzhou, China. Al-Murdhi clinched the first ever Saudi medal in the jiu-jitsu competition, which was first introduced in the 2018 Asian Games hosted by Indonesia.
Prince Fahd bin Jalawi, head of the Saudi delegation to the Asian Games and vice president of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, presented the medals to Al-Murdhi and other winners. With the winning of bronze by Al-Murdhi, Saudi Arabia’s tally in the Asian Games rose to seven —three gold, two silver and two bronze.
Al-Murdhi clinched the bronze after beating the Jordanian Khalil Al-Arnaut. Al Murdhi defeated Mongolian player in the round of 32 with a score of 6-0, before beating his Iranian opponent 2-0 in the round of 16 and achieving a victory over a Filipino opponent by submission in the round of 8, before losing to UAE’s Khalid Al-Balooshi in the semifinals 0-2. The UAE won a gold and three silvers from the three jiu-jitsu finals. Khaled Al-Shehi clinched gold in an all-UAE final by defeating Khalid Al-Balooshi in the 62-kilogram weight.
Al-Murdhi expressed his happiness at winning the first Saudi medal in the jiu-jitsu competitions at the Asian Games, saying: “The competition was fierce from the first confrontation until the moment of winning the bronze. Praise be to God who enabled in registering my name as the first Saudi player to win this honor in the sport of jiu-jitsu.”
The Saudi jiu-jitsu national team player Osama Qandil was eliminated from the round of 16 in the 69 kg competition, losing to Kazakhstan’s Nurzhan Baterbekov with a score of 0-9.
Osama Al-Maroui lost to his Kazakh counterpart Mansour Habibullah in the 32nd round of the 62 kg competition. His colleague Mohammed bin Huraymel left in the same round by losing to a Mongolian in 69 kg competition. The Saudi weightlifting national team player Ali Al-Khazal came in first place in the 109 kg Group B competition.
In the athletics competitions, Saudi athlete Muhammad Shawin concluded Al-Akhdar’s participation in the Asian Games by running the marathon race. He was forced to quit the race 10 km before the end after sustaining a muscle injury.
The riders of the Saudi show jumping team seek to confirm their advantage on the level of the Asian continent, when they participate in the individual show jumping competitions, starting on Thursday at the equestrian arena in the city of Hangzhou.
The Green team will be represented by rider Ramzi Al-Dahami, who won gold in Guangzhou 2010 and bronze in Jakarta 2018;Abdullah Al-Sharbatly, winner of gold in Inchon 2014, Abdul Rahman Al-Rajhi, who won gold medal in the team competitions in the tournament, along with their colleague Meshari Al-Harbi.
In the karate competitions, Sultan Al-Zahrani lost to Malaysia’s Raghunathan Charmandran with a score of 2-5 in the 75 kg kumite competition in the quarter-finals. Al-Zahrani had qualified for this round by defeating Palestinian Anas Bashra 4-0 in the round of 16. In the women’s individual kata competition, the Saudi karate team player Manal Al-Zaid, ended up in the sixth position with 34.90 points.
The Saudi karate national team player Tariq Hamidi, begins his participation in the Asian Games, when he attends the quarter-finals, awaiting the winner of the confrontation between Macau and Vietnam in the 84 kg competition, as the player aspires to win gold, and register his name as the first Saudi to win gold in the karate competition at the Asian Games. In his previous participation in the Jakarta Asian Games 2018, he had won bronze medal.
Also on Thursday, Saud Al-Bashir will compete in the 32nd round of 60 kg competition against his opponent from Turkmenistan. The Saudi basketball team will conclude its participation in the tournament on Thursday by competing in a match against its Iranian counterpart to determine fifth and sixth places.
